The older I become, the more I realize that drawing is the most important of all the problems of picture-making.
- Joaquin Sorolla

Art is, after all, only a trace — like a footprint which shows that one has walked bravely and in great happiness.
- Robert Henri

Wednesday, February 16, 2011

Eric Drooker

It’s worth a visit to the website of illustrator, painter and graphic novel artist Eric Drooker for his beautifully realized, humorous and thought provoking New Yorker covers alone.

You can add to this his expressive paintings and graphically powerful drawings, along with previews of some of his illustrated books, notably Howl (images above, 3rd from bottom), a graphic novel illustrating Allen Ginsburg’s landmark poem, based on the animation Drooker designed for the recent feature film.

One of Drooker’s other graphic stories, Flood! A Novel in Pictures, is drawn in his stark, woodcut-like black and white style, in some ways reminiscent of the groundbreaking graphic stories of Frans Masareel.

When visiting Drooker’s website, be sure to note that the sections devoted to individual books include previews of the books and more, often with additional illustrations.

Many of his drawings and paintings share with his New Yorker covers a “stop and think” visual twist, like the wonderful “X-Ray Manhattan” (images above, 2nd from bottom and detail, bottom).

There is an additional gallery and a brief slideshow about his process on the site of his artist’s representative, Richard Solomon.

In addition to The New Yorker, his illustrations appear in publications like The New York Times, The Village Voice, The Nation, The Guardian and Heavy Metal.

Drooker often gives lectures at colleges, universities and similar venues, and will be appearing at the Jewish Community Center of San Francisco on Wednesday, March 16, 2011, for an event called The Surreal World of Eric Drooker, described as “a slide lecture with live musical accompaniment by the artist”.